<p>Alright UC Berkeley disappoints 3 out of every 4 students in my opinion.
First off berkeley is a large school with professors who care more about their research than they do about teaching also pre-med competition is rediculously cutt throat because there are sooo many pre-meds. Next off most students don't get housing 2nd year and it costs a lot to support yourself for 3 years. There is a good chance that your GPA will not be high enough and you will probably realize on your that you have no shot at med school, when in fact if you went to a lesser school you have easily gotten in. UC-berkeley is basically a large public school with in my opinion lots of cons and very little pros and their graduates are almost always unhappy with their situation. Go to UCLA you will enjoy yourself more, have fun, get a higher GPA, more interaction with professorsand will probably have a way higher chance of getting into med school. Bascially at Berkeley even in the upper level courses you never really see your professors and you will get shi*ty grades and will be very disappointed.</p>
<p>thanks for your insight</p>
<p>Although Berkeley is known as very cutthroat, I have heard that there are some LESS competitive,although very reputable, majors at berkeley. For example, i have heard that the political science major at Berkeley is not that demanding and it is not very difficult to get a 3.7+ GPA. Do you guys think that pol sci is a suitable major for med school?</p>
<p>An old post:</p>
<p>"As for majors, I would say that there's only one thing you should look for:
Be able to explain why you are majoring in that field.</p>
<p>That's the crucial thing. Find a subject you are passionate about and be able to explain why you are passionate about it: do you find it important? Intellectually stimulating? This is what medical schools care about - that you are preparing yourself to be a doctor. Each person approaches that in a different way. I'm an economics major; I've been able to explain (I think compellingly) to people how that links to medicine, how that plays into my interests, and why it's important to the world at large. When I'm asked about my major, I get very excited as I explain why economics is so important. Schools sense my passion to apply that to health care, and it's my hope that that makes a difference.</p>
<p>Find something you feel you can explain and defend enthusiastically when interviewed about it. Find something that you love, and something that will in some way make you a better doctor. If those instructions sound broad, it's because they are."</p>
<p>Don't science majors tend to do better on the MCAT's though? Do you think a non-science major would have to study a lot harder for the MCATs than a science major because for a science major the questions on the MCATs are similar to the coursework that they are doing in college?</p>
<p>No. The MCAT only tests intro bio, orgo, gen chem, and physics (along w/ verbal). Taking upper div science courses has minimal benefits.</p>
<p>I'm with norcal on this one. Not ZERO benefit, but minimal.</p>
<p>The science knowledge trades off with the fact that the whole MCAT (not all, but most) is based on reading comprehension anyway - even the science sections.</p>
<p>I plan on doing psychology and it fits in great with medicine and I can easily explain to them how it fits with medicine. You should find a major where you can do the same and do what you like.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Alright UC Berkeley disappoints 3 out of every 4 students in my opinion.
First off berkeley is a large school with professors who care more about their research than they do about teaching also pre-med competition is rediculously cutt throat because there are sooo many pre-meds. Next off most students don't get housing 2nd year and it costs a lot to support yourself for 3 years. There is a good chance that your GPA will not be high enough and you will probably realize on your that you have no shot at med school, when in fact if you went to a lesser school you have easily gotten in. UC-berkeley is basically a large public school with in my opinion lots of cons and very little pros and their graduates are almost always unhappy with their situation. Go to UCLA you will enjoy yourself more, have fun, get a higher GPA, more interaction with professorsand will probably have a way higher chance of getting into med school. Bascially at Berkeley even in the upper level courses you never really see your professors and you will get shi*ty grades and will be very disappointed.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm sorry, I can't agree with this. Not that Berkeley isn't the way that you've described it. Indeed, it probably is. In fact, I have written many a post about how impersonal the Berkeley undergrad experience can be.</p>
<p>Where your argument goes off the rails is that you assume that UCLA is going to be any better. The truth is, while Berkeley is a large school, UCLA is an EVEN LARGER school. While Berkeley indeed has many profs who care more about research than teaching, so does UCLA. The non-guaranteed dorm housing is not the serious concern that you seem to be making it out to be, because the fact is, the dorms at Berkeley arguably cost MORE than a regular off-campus apartment in town. Hence, I don't see why you are bringing up the issue of cost when you say that "it costs a lot to support yourself". Those people who really have money problems are probably looking to get out of the dorms as quickly as possible in order to save money, so they shouldn't care if dorm housing is only guaranteed for 1 year. Finally, you talk about your GPA not being high enough to get into med-school coming out of Berkeley, and how you never see your profs in upper division classes. Yeah, well, you don't think that doesn't happen at UCLA?</p>
<p>Look, if you were telling pointing out these problems of Berkeley because you were trying to convince them to go to one of those small elite LAC's, then I would agree with you. But you're not. All these problems you have pointed out about Berkeley are also true of UCLA. Hence, these problems cannot be any reason to prefer UCLA over Berkeley. To make that case, you have to talk about what problems Berkeley has that UCLA doesn't have. Otherwise, the case is unproven.</p>
<p>
[quote]
UCLA is a much more "well rounded" school with professors taht care more about their students and less about their research because it is much less research oriented and there is less grade deflation and in my opinion UCLA has a better program for pre-med students especially if you like psychology and other social sciences.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I would like to see evidence that UCLA profs care more about their students and less about research than do the profs at Berkeley. I would also like to see evidence that UCLA is less grade deflated than is Berkeley.</p>
<p>There is one thing, though: UCLA has better access to the medical center, with the research and volunteering opportunities they have there.</p>
<p>It's very important, if you want to someday be a doctor, to start interacting with patients early on.</p>
<p>
[quote]
There is one thing, though: UCLA has better access to the medical center, with the research and volunteering opportunities they have there.</p>
<p>It's very important, if you want to someday be a doctor, to start interacting with patients early on
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I agree that it is important to start getting medical experience as quickly as possible, but I doubt that the fact that UCLA has a medical center is really that big of a benefit. Is it a nice thing? Sure. But I don't know if it's THAT beneficial. After all, it's not like Berkeley is completely bereft of medical facilities. Berkeley and Oakland are full-fledged cities and therefore have extensive health-care infrastructure. I am convinced that if a Berkeley student puts in the effort, he can find medical experience to be had. </p>
<p>Besides, I would point out that schools like Princeton have no medical school and are located in a small suburb far away from most hospitals, yet Princeton premeds seem to do very well. So do the premeds at the elite LAC's, many of which are located in tiny little rural towns. </p>
<p>So while I agree that medical experience is quite important, I wouldn't choose one undergrad program over another just because one has a nearby medical center. It seems to me that if you put in the effort, you can find that medical experience anywhere. It doesn't have to be doing high-level clinical research.</p>
<p>
[quote]
if you put in the effort
[/quote]
For premeds like me, this can be a big deal. :)</p>
<p>I'm teasing.</p>
<p>Certainly I'd agree with sakky that it's not a deal-breaker. But I'd argue that all things being equal - and with Princeton and LACs, they aren't - it's better to have access to an academic medical center, with the research projects and faculty mentoring/letter writing that that provides.</p>
<p>Of course, you always have summer internships, etc, etc, so it's definitely not a deal-breaker.</p>
<p>But in my opinion, it helps you get to know why you want to be a premed.</p>
<p>Apparently UCLA sends more kids to Med School, especially the Elite one's :</p>
<p><a href="http://mdapplicants.com/%5B/url%5D">http://mdapplicants.com/</a></p>
<p>I know it is not a completely valid description of everyone who applied to med school from those two schools, but it gives you the idea. Either UCLA is easier to do well in or it might actually be better for undergrad.</p>
<p>UCLA has more students than Berkeley, so you'd expect more UCLA students to get into med-schools. </p>
<p>Besides, mdapplicants is clearly not even close to comprehensive. Plenty of premeds have never even heard of that website, and obviously if you've never heard of it, you can't fill in your information.</p>
<p>What I'd like to see is the official UCLA premed placement statistics, with which to compare to the Berkeley premed placement statistics.</p>
<p>I looked, but there is no stats on how many people satrted out as pre-meds at Berkeley and at UCLA and how many actually stayed as pre-med for four years and how many actually got accepted, but from the constant whining I see on collegeconfidential I am putting my money on UCLA because as other poster's have stated UCLA is known for producing doctors and tehre is ample research oppurtunities at a very close distance. By research I mean Medical and not general science.</p>
<p>I am not aware of any reason for why UCLA would be any more productive of doctors than Berkeley would.</p>
<p>I REALLY need help!! I have less than 2 weeks to decide on which college to go to and i am totally undecided! I am choosing between Berk and UCI. Would getting a slightly lower GPA at Berk be offset by the prestige of the school, as far as admissions to mmed school goes? Which would maximize a pre-med's chances for med school?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance</p>
<p>
[quote]
I REALLY need help!! I have less than 2 weeks to decide on which college to go to and i am totally undecided! I am choosing between Berk and UCI. Would getting a slightly lower GPA at Berk be offset by the prestige of the school, as far as admissions to mmed school goes? Which would maximize a pre-med's chances for med school?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>As I said on the other thread where this was posted, it is unclear to me whether you really would get a lower GPA at Berkeley than at UCI. In fact, I could say that a case could be made that you might end up with a lower GPA at UCI. Why? Sociology. Basically, human beings are social creatures and tend to copy what others are doing around them. When you see other students studying hard, then you will tend to study hard. But when you see other students lounging around and being lazy, then you will tend to be lazy.</p>
<p>I know this is very contraditory to what I have said before, but go to Berkeley because if you know for a fact that you definitely want to be a doctor , and that you definitely could do better when there is lazier people around you, then go to Irvine. But, for every other major you are considering go to berkeley. If you major in something like Psychology, you GPA will definitely not be bad. If you had the choice of UCLA, Berkeley or Irvine I would reccomend UCLA.</p>